Lukes version of this story is a little different from both Mark’s and Matthew’s. Luke’s author uses the dialogue regarding the greatest commandment to tell the story of the good Samaritan, which only appears in Luke’s version of the Jesus story.
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This is Part 2 of Loving Our Neighbor as an Affirmation of Diversity
(Read this series from its beginning here.)
The parable’s context is the deep-rooted hostility between Judean Jews and Israelite Samaritans. The story portrays a Samaritan in a positive light contrasted with a Judean priest and a Judean Levite. The story then transgresses Judeans’ negative stereotypes about Samaritans and challenges their lens of “us” versus “them.”
In the story, Jesus portrays the Samaritan as operating at a higher level of moral development than the priest and the Levite. The Samaritan comes to the aid of a man—likely a Judean—who has been beaten and left for dead after two religious figures pass by without helping. In doing so, the Samaritan transgresses significant social, political, economic and religious boundaries. For Jesus’ audience, who were primarily Judean, the parable invites them to see the story through the eyes of the wounded man in the ditch. It also pushes them to recognize their “neighbor” in someone who isn’t only different from them, but also an Other they considered to be morally inferior. In these ways, the story calls its audience to a new kind of social reality by subverting the way they thought about Samaritans and luring the audience into transgressing social boundaries, too.
Today, this story of the good Samaritan could have many applications. In matters of race, it could be used to transgress racial supremacy, bias, and prejudice. In matters of gender, this story could be used to challenge partriarchal privilege and gender-based exclusion. This narrative could tell a powerful “good Samaritan” story today in the context of South American migrants here in the U.S., to challenge the xenophobic way some folks view migrants. The story could also be told in the context of the LGBTQ community where the question “who is my neighbor” could be used to transgress homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.
Who today in our social context has their differences used against them? What religious or social boundaries does this story call us to transgress? How does it challenge us to reach across differences and consider the other person to be our neighbor?
In a world marked by the beauty of our diversity, we can choose to make our differences walls that separate us or we can choose to lean into our rich diversity as humans, recognizing we are still connected to each other, and allow that diversity to enrich our community and make us stronger, more compassionate and broaden what justice looks like in a world that is transformed into a safe home for all of us. Our differences are part of the rich tapestry of humanity. Recognizing and respecting them is essential, and it’s equally important to see the other person as our “neighbor.” This is not just a matter of tolerance or civility; it is a deeply moral and spiritual vision that calls us to our shared humanity.
There’s one more way our differences inform us. We’ll unpack that in Part 3.
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